University of Groningen, Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy, Groningen, Netherlands

Background

Intestinal fibrosis (IF) is a common complication in Crohn's disease. Currently, there are no drugs registered to treat IF and the sole therapy is intestinal resection. Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) play a key role in IF and are the main targets for potential treatment. Recently, we developed a novel model for the early onset of IF using precision-cut intestinal slices (PCIS). Our objective was to investigate the antifibrotic effect of some potential antifibrotic compounds, including TGF-beta and PDGF-pathway inhibitors, by using the murine PCIS fibrosis model.

Conclusion

From the compounds studied, the TGF-beta-inhibitors; Tet, Pir, and LY and only one PDGF-inhibitor, Sun, showed potential antifibrotic effect on gene expression of fibrosis markers in murine PCIS. Thus, PCIS is a promising model to evaluate the antifibrotic effect of potential drugs for intestinal fibrosis.